A recent Ogletree Deakins internal benchmarking survey of nearly 1,100 companies revealed that a chief concern of employers was how to hire and retain employees. The survey included companies of all sizes, varying from fewer than 500 to more than 20,000 employees.
The top five industries represented were manufacturing, technology, healthcare, financial services, and retail—with a staggering 64 percent reporting that hiring and retention was their number one concern. This percentage was higher than multijurisdictional compliance, leaves of absence and accommodation issues, pay equity, wage and hour compliance, layoffs, and union organizing and labor issues.
Quick Hits
- Hiring and retaining employees are top concerns of employers, a recent Ogletree Deakins survey of nearly 1,100 companies revealed.
- Strategies to boost hiring and retention include instituting flexible work arrangements, enhancing benefits, and eliminating COVID-19 vaccine requirements and/or drug testing.
- Former prisoners (carefully selected, mentored, and trained) who are seeking reentry into the workforce may provide employers with an additional source of qualified employees.
Responding companies identified several efforts to address hiring and retention challenges, including instituting flexible work arrangements, enhancing benefits, and eliminating COVID-19 vaccine requirements and/or drug testing in certain contexts. Over 70 percent of responding companies increased their base pay and almost a quarter relaxed educational or experience requirements. Even still, companies cannot seem to find a solution to the employee shortage—perhaps due in part to the United States’ sustained period of relatively low unemployment. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.7 percent as of December 2023.
